Swamplands (Peaked #1)

Salutations Smogon. :]Take note that this team is from BEFORE the ladder reset. This means Manaphy and Garchomp were banned. This also implies that my Peak, being 1st, was again, before the ladder reset.

Ever since I started playing Pokemon, I knew I wanted to be a casual player with those stupid gimmicky sets (hello name). I started by attempting to make a team based around Perish Song/Whirlpool Lapras (lol). This got me into using Rain.

Then, I found this fun mini-tier known as Dream World nearly as soon as it came out. I wanted to make a team based around the metagame that would soon develop into what it is today. Looking through a list of possible candidates to check common Dream World threats, I found an an answer in Toxicroak, which also supported my new-found interest in Rain. So, I built a team around it and started to ladder.

Through many team tweaks and alterations, I found myself quickly laddering to the top of the charts, making a final peak at 1689 in 1st place.

Yes, it does only say 1638. You see, Jimbon and I were having a competition to get to 1700 as quickly as possible, so I laddered rapidly from 1638 (in which I took my ladder screen) to 1689 when the ladder reset DURING A BATTLE. I was unable to screen my final peak for this, lol.

And without further adieu, I bring you Swamplands.

I'll tell you now that this team was designed to apply offensive pressure through the means of setting up. I have 4 set-up sweepers to constantly force switches and to abuse the rain I had previously brought, Ferrothorn to abuse those switches with hazard damage (while also walling many threats, like Rotom-W), and Politoed to set up the rain that my sweepers would love. The sweepers were chosen in order to support each other in defensive and offensive pressure. They hold valuable resists for one another, allowing me to have such a team without Dual Screen support. These factors also allow me to switch around if I cannot pursue an entire sweep due to checks and counters. Being based on Toxicroak, the team would have to support him somehow while retaining their own offensive pressure. To do this, I have the ability to paralyze opposing Pokemon in both Jirachi and Ferrothorn, allowing many more Substitutes to be set up by Toxicroak. I'll go into more detail during the actual team descriptions and "Building to Win" process.

Going Back to Origins(Move your mouse to reveal the content)Going Back to Origins (open)Going Back to Origins (close)

Lmao. So now I needed Rain.
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With infinite rain, I could Perish-Trap many things because of Lapras's Hydration. Rest/Protect/Whirlpool/Perish Song seemed neat. (Keep in mind I was just starting Pokemon at this time). I realized I had an Electric Weakness here, so I added:
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With Lighningrod, Zapdos could come into any Electric attack and gain a Sp. Atk boost. My Electric weakness (although non-reliable) was covered. Now I decided I needed walls on both sides of the defensive spectrum to take hits after switching out from Lapras's Perish Trap. I decided on:
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I could now switch into both physical and special attacks after Perish Trapping Pokemon with Lapras. I needed a Scarf, so I added:
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The team was complete, however stupid it looks now. I was able to get to about 1350 with this, until I actually looked into Pokemon metagames. I realized I needed some heavy revision. Check the next hidden tab for the more current teambuilding process. :]

Building to Win(Move your mouse to reveal the content)Building to Win (open)Building to Win (close)

So after months of Generation 5's release, I realized it was time to build a more serious team. I wanted a team that would propel me to high placings on the ladder and win more tournaments. I had many troubles with Keldeo with this team, being able to sweep pretty much every Pokemon. I knew the new team I'd build would hold a reliable check to the weird blue pony. So, like I said before, I would add Toxicroak and center my team around it. I decided to replace the stupid Lapras set with Toxicroak and see what I could do from there.
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So here, I thought my team looked pretty good. Toxicroak was working great, sweeping nearly every team I played. However, Blissey was usually complete dead weight, so I knew it was time to release this fat egg thing. I wanted something that could take those ground-type attacks for Toxicroak while still abusing the Rain I spent an entire Pokemon for. I ended up deciding upon:
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There we had it. A Gyarados. This monster ended up sweeping more teams than Toxicroak did. Because of this, I knew I wanted to make a team with as many set-up sweepers as possible, as the thrill of going through 6 Pokemon with 1 was just exhilarating. I felt like Genesect was slowing down this team because of it's Choice Scarf (Ironic, I know. I just didn't like being locked into 1 move and then being forced to switch with this team). I needed to replace it with something else similar to it. Something with similar typing... so I added:
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Amazing. Simply amazing. I found this thing so versatile. I could have a myriad of sets on this thing and it still did way more work than Genesect. I wanted to continue a sweep pattern, so I settled on SubCM and I have NEVER looked back. My team sped up tremendously. However, my Zapdos switches became very predictable, so I ended up switching into Ferrothorn for Electric resists. Without much use for Zapdos any longer (which became more and more predictable in DW as more people used it), I decided to settle on a better Thunder abuser...
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And with this, the team was finally finished. Very few teams could keep up with the pressure of 4 set-up sweepers constantly lurking around the corner. I continued laddering with this team and found it to be my favorite playstyle as well as most successful group of Pokemon I have put together. So, with this, let's get into some detail, shall we?

Polibro (Politoed) (F) @ LeftoversTrait: DrizzleEVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDefBold Nature (+Def, -Atk)- Scald- Toxic- Protect- Perish SongPolitoed has always been a favorite of mine since early generations, but Gen 5 gave it the most useful tool known to man. Drizzle. Without this little guy, I probably wouldn't have any motivation to even ladder. However, his stats never really rose above anything else. Mediocre Special Attack terrible Speed means I never really saw it as an offensive type of Pokemon. With that, I chose to go with a very defensive set. The Physical Defense of Politoed is actually quite underrated at times. Being able to survive a +1 Outrage from Dragonite and pursuing a Perish Song is a very nice thing to have. Protect is an AMAZING move to have on Politoed as it scouts Genesect and Rotom-W. Because of my higher Defense stat, lead Genesects will always get a Special Attack boost. Clearly, I wouldn't want to stay in, UNLESS I protect and see him try to predict my switch, going for U-Turn. Same with Rotom-W trying to predict a Ferrothorn switch, going for Trick. I usually switch into Gyarados here since having a Scarf Moxie Pokemon is always cool. Scald is there for obvious reasons--STAB and burning. I chose Toxic over things like Ice Beam and Encore for Quagsire, which inevitably walls this team to hell and back. It's also really nice for predicting Jellicent or Gastrodon switches. I chose Perish Song over the latter two Encore and Ice Beam for other annoying set-up sweepers as well as Baton Pass. Politoed can generally switch into Gorebyss on a Shell Smash and Perish Song away without fearing death from a Surf. Unless it has HP Grass, SmashPass teams really are not effective against me. Politoed is also really cool in the fact that it wins the weather war against 3 of the 4 opposing weathers. Abomasnow can be a bit of a problem, though. There really isn't much to explain for Politoed since it's pretty standard.

Without Ferrothorn, this team would completely fall apart. My hazard stacker of choice, this guy can completely wall some major threats to this team. He can come in on just about any Electric attack aimed toward Politoed or Gyarados and start stacking some hazards or paralyze the incoming switch. I do have Leftovers on this man, which may be weird to some, considering Chandelure is omnipresent in Dream World, but it really helps out. Without Leech Seed in my move pool, Leftovers is the only thing keeping me alive. There are always those few attacks that do just about 52%, allowing Ferrothorn to survive two with Lefties. Shed Shell would seriously hinder my walling capabilities. Besides, Chandelure switches are quite obvious anyway. I have both Stealth Rock and Spikes in order to make sweeps that much easier. It breaks sashes and really helps against Sun teams with Volcarona. If Volcarona has HP Rock, my team is as good as dead. Anyway, my Ferrothorn usually acts somewhat like a Deoxys-D. It sets up hazards and then dies so the real action can begin. Spikes are there simply to wear the opposing Pokemon down while I force switches with my sweepers. Power Whip is the obligatory STAB and hits quite hard, actually. Last, but definitely not least, Thunder Wave. This move on Ferrothorn is absolute perfection. When Ferrothorn comes in on something to wall it, the opponent will switch into a generally offensive Pokemon in hopes to take me out. Nope. I will paralyze your switch, rendering one of your Pokemon somewhat useless. Keldeo is a good example. I cannot tell you how many of those I paralyzed on the switch. Nobody expects Thunder Wave; it's great. The relation to Toxicroak here is pretty important as well. Spreading paralysis helps many of my Pokes set up because 3 of them will contain Substitute. Overall, this guy is just perfect support for the rest of my team. Not to mention how reliable it is against Dragons.

Gyarados is god tier, man. This giant snake is just too powerful for this game. It supports both Jirachi and Toxicroak in terms of Ground resists. It also baits Rotom-W and Genesect, allowing me to switch into Ferrothorn and set up. Honestly, this is my biggest Sandstorm answer, allowing me to kill common Sand Sweepers as well as their partners. Fun Fact: I made this set as soon as Moxie was released this Gen. The SubDD Bounce set became popular this year when I was using it for a long long time. :] I chose Adamant over Jolly because it really won't be outspeeding many Scarfers at +1 anyway. It does its job in outspeeding those high base Speeds like Jolteon and such, so the extra power is always welcomed. Waterfall is chosen over Aqua Tail for its perfect accuracy and flinch chance. Flinching really comes in handy against Skarmory, who takes 53.29% - 62.87% from a rain boosted Waterfall at +1. Keep in mind that my item is LEFTOVERS. Not even Life Orb. There isn't much that can wall this set barring Ferrothorn. It can function as an early game sweeper, taking out 6 Pokemon with ease. I have Substitute so I can set up on threats like Jellicent or Gastrodon which can otherwise scare me with Burns. Bounce is my secondary STAB that hits Grass types that would normally wall Gyarados. I originally had a RestTalking set with Thunder Wave to spread Paralysis even further, but this set is WAY more useful. I can easily say that this guy is the star of this team (even though it was based around Toxicroak).

sup.Sup Bro. (Thundurus) (M) @ Life OrbTrait: Prankster

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)​

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- Nasty Plot
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- Thunder
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- Hidden Power [Ice]
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- Focus Blast
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Thundurus is the GOD of Rain for a reason. He hits like an absolute truck with or without a boost. With trollish speed to outpace Lati@s, Espeon, and other base 110 Speed Pokemon, very little can stop him. After a Nasty Plot, their team is as good as gone. Doing 80% to 252/0 Chansey at +2, I can assure you that NOTHING can wall this. Your best and only chance is to outspeed him. Anyway, this man supplies my team with another ground immunity to make up for a later addition of Jirachi. His ability to outspeed huge threats like Garchomp and Landorus is extremely valuable as he OHKOs them with his LO boosted HP Ice. Focus Blast hits those steels like Ferrothorn that would normally wall Thundurus. As an added bonus, it also hits TTar REALLY hard, making the weather war that much easier to win. Thundurus satisfies my main answer to the extremely common Water type sweepers, Manaphy and Keldeo. He's also my go-to Pokemon after Breloom sets up a Spore and Swords Dances on my switch. Since Mach Punch can't OHKO (even Adamant + Fight Gem), I can easily take out a huge threat with HP Ice. I used to have the Substitute / T-Wave set on this guy, but I found Nasty Plot a MUCH bigger threat. He got banned for a reason after all. Also, if you were wondering, my team is considered Dream World because of Thundurus. Although not a "Dream World" Pokemon, he's still banned in standard and legal here. My final thoughts on this guy has to be that it is somewhat difficult to pull off a Nasty Plot without dying. Since Dream World is jam packed with insanely powerful Pokemon (seriously, some teams just have 6 brute force Pokes), setting up will not be an easy task. Then, taking into consideration Life Orb damage and possibly Stealth Rock damage, it just adds up. For this reason, I rarely do ever get to set up a Nasty Plot--but when I do, it's devastating. It's really just there if there is that very slight opportunity to get it done. I've seen people ready to sac their Skarmory just to keep this thing from getting a Nasty Plot. Often times, though, he doesn't really need the +2 to destroy everything in his path. :]]

Ah yes. Next up, we have the Haxmaster. This has been one of my favorite sets ever since its invention. As soon as I decided on Jirachi for the last slot, I knew I'd use this set and it worked fabulously. I've never looked back. With all the super fast threats running around here in Dream World, spreading Paralysis is never a bad thing. Thunder has a fantastic 60% chance to paralyze. That gives it not one, but two functions--powerful sweeping move and gimmicky paralysis move. Because of its typing, Jirachi is able to set up on a plethora of Pokemon. Let's not forget about Water Pulse though. This has got to be the most troll move in all of Pokemon. It's hilarious to see your opponent's frustration while getting Parafused with attacking moves. Water Pulse and Thunder makes it much easier to set up Substitues and Calm Minds safely. Unless Ferrothorn has bulldoze, it's complete set-up fodder. Unless Chansey gets extremely lucky, it's complete set-up fodder. Jirachi also serves as a pretty good Dragon switch-in. I love coming in on something locked into Outrage and paralyzing them with Thunder. They give them self free Parafusion so I can start setting up on them. Setting up on an Outrage. How cool is that? It also serves as my answer to Serperior, shrugging off its weak Leaf Storms and rendering it useless with Thunder. Again, the abundant para-spreading helps Toxicroak sweep late game. I tied replacing this little wishmaker with Starmie to have similar coverage with Rapid Spin support, but I found the sweeping potential of Jirachi to be way too helpful for this team. I'll end this section by listing off some of the things it helps the rest of this team with: Serperior, Chansey, Ferrothorn, Alakazam, Staraptor, Dragonite, Latios, Latias, Gengar, Genesect. That reminds me. I have 4 Def EVs specifically so Genesect gets a Special Attack boost. This may seem weird at first, but it helps me set up Calm Minds. If Genesect gets a Sp. Atk boost, it will be tempted to go for Flamethrower. With this, I can paralyze it in hopes to render my opponent's Scarfer useless. This ends up supporting Thundurus later in the game. It also allows me to attempt to set up Calm Minds on it and hopefully go for a sweep. Also, another fun thing about this guy. It lures in Skarmory/Excadrill/Gliscor. Oh boy will they be in for a nasty surprise when Excadrill or Gliscor die to a rain boosted Water Pulse or Skarmory to a Thunder. At first glance, this thing may not seem like a huge threat in Dream World, but it can really mess with the opponent. It's hilarious how many battles I've won simply from this little guy's hax.

Oh my God. He's finally here. The one and only. The weird looking fighting frog. In all seriousness, this wouldn't be a team without Toxicroak. Let me tell you how Toxicroak is one of the few things in this game that DOESN'T mind switching into a Choice Banded Terrakion, the biggest threat in this entire game. Only taking 55% from a Close Combat and even less from a Stone Edge while healing 18.75% the turn after, this mere FROG scares off a Terrakion. He checks an unbelievable amount of Pokemon, including (but not limited to) Keldeo, Techniloom, Conkeldurr, Terrakion, Choiced Chandelures, Latios below 60%, and most importantly, TTar. With my team's ability to spread paralysis, I knew I wouldn't need much investment in Speed for Toxicroak. Therefore, I ended up with the Substitute Bulk Up set, adding yet another user of Substitute to this team. All these little Rhydon dolls running around helps against stall and opposing para-spreading Pokemon. Anyway, getting back on track, 244 HP is there to increase the durability of each of my Substitutes while being able to take a +2 LO Bullet Seed from Techniloom and doing massive damage back with Drain Punch. Fun Fact: At +1 Def, Toxicroak takes a little over 50% from a Salamence's Outrage.

With several Pokemon paralyzed on my opponent's team, Toxicroak is able to set up (I believe) 12 Substitues until he runs out of HP. That's quite a lot of chances to get fully paralyzed. All I have to do is simply wait for full paralyzation to get a free Sub, and then begin to set up. After a free Sub is obtained, I also gain much of my HP back through Dry Skin and Leftovers. This is why Toxicroak makes for one of the best late game sweepers I have EVER used. Being able to check two of the most threatening Pokemon in Dream World with this one underrated Pokemon is so satisfying. I'm simply joyed that I found this guy. It's funny how much I'm able to set up with him too, considering his defenses are lack-luster. I often set up on Conkeldurr and Ferrothorn, both giving me a free +6. As many people say, this is the "glue" to my team. He holds everything together through his constant recovery and odd typing.

Well, Smogon, I guess this is the end of our trip through the swamp. I had a blast making this team and even more fun using it. I hope to draw suggestions regarding a spinner from this RMT as I do have two Pokemon that are weak to Stealth Rock. It ends up becoming a burden to switch into them. I tried both Tentacruel and Starmie and neither of them really worked how I wanted them to. Tentacruel was way too slow for this team and Starmie had to spin on predicted switches, which again, slows the momentum down I could get from double switching. If someone could find a good replacement, I would greatly appreciate it. Since this was so fun, I think I'll do another RMT soon on the team I used for my [rs]dik bal shit account.

I'd like to end this by thanking Bloody Piss and Jimbon for helping me around with this team <3 Oh and Seedy for being cool.

I don't play DW, but one thing I noticed is that your Toxicroak EV spread is slightly inefficient. A spread of 180 HP / 252 Atk / 36 Def / 40 SpD shifts Toxicroak down to the next Leftovers number, and optimises its bulk. It has 1.4% higher physical bulk and 0.2% higher special bulk than your current spread, at no penalty to you.

This is a very well built Rain Team, I remember you playing me with this a while back and destroying me. Ferrothorn does a very good job of paving the way for Thundurus / Jirachi / Gyarados / Toxicroak to sweep, with hazards and status support. One thing I did see however, and you mentioned it yourself is the lack of a Rapid Spinner. Being unable to Spin means that you will have a hard time continually switching in Gyarados / Thundurus, arguably the two of the biggest threats under Rain. The only passive recovery going throughout this team Leftovers, which is not reliable enough to keep your team members alive; I can definately see this team having some problems with stall.

Honestly, I don't see a way of successfully putting in a spinner without messing with other elements of your team, and potentially damaging your synergy. Having previously mentioned Starmie > Jirachi to you previously, it still doesn't seem to tick all the boxes in terms of support. What I would like to recommend is Wish in place of Substitute on Jirachi. Wish provides you with passive recovery upon switching in other team members, giving you an easier time against defensive teams. Combined with Jirachi's HP investment, it allows it to pass big wishes replenishing the health of other members of your team.

With no spinner on this team, you might be finding it a lot harder to set up. Switching Gyarados in and out a lot might be difficult so you'll need to take advantage of the opportunities you get. I recommend changing your Gyarados set to a slightly bulkier variant.

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Gyarados in the rain has very good sweeping potential, and with a plethora of physical fighting / ground attackers in the current Dream World Metagame, Gyarados can very easily grant itself a free substitute and start Dragon Dancing up. This set helps Gyarados to beat some of it's most common switch-ins, Genesect in particular whose U-Turn fails to break the sub after getting a Special Attack boost due to the 56 HP EVs. With 220 Speed EVs you also outspeed Max Speed variants of Deoxys-S at +2, who can cut Gyarados' sweep short. The remaining EVs go into Attack to boost offensive power after a Dragon Dance or two, making it very hard for an opponent to stop Gyarados.

Not a whole lot of room for improvement, all in all I really love this team. A great example a Rain Offense playstyle without spamming Keldeo / Manaphy. Fantastic team Gimmick, Luvdisc'd!

Nice team. Btw this is not a dw team. Dw teams have pokemon like Genesect on it and pokemon with the unreleased ability. The only pokemon you have with dw abilities are ones that are released. I will rate it later. Congrats on #1

Nice team. Btw this is not a dw team. Dw teams have pokemon like Genesect on it and pokemon with the unreleased ability. The only pokemon you have with dw abilities are ones that are released. I will rate it later. Congrats on #1

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Note that he said this was before the ladder peak, and it clearly shows on the ladder snapshot that it's DW OU. Oh yeah, smexy team Gimmick! Congrats on #1!

@erisia Thanks, good catch. I ended up just using the EVs I found on the Smogon page. I'll test it out and see if it makes any difference to me at all. I'm sure it will based on what you said.

@Jimbon. HEY ILY. And yeah, the spinner position is really a toughie. I just can't decide on it. :[ I love that Wish suggestion on Jirachi. It would make me able to switch into Gyarados or Thundurus on EQs and ignore any type of Stealth Rock damage. You're right about the HP investment helping me out as well. Why not use it? The only concern I have for it is being unable to set up on things like Ferrothorn with T-Wave as I can't Substitute to block it. Same goes with stuff like Jellicent or Gastrodon to avoid Scald burns. Those can be ignored, however, to support the rest of my team. I can even set up on Chansey much better. Thanks Bonnie! I gotta try that.

Those 54 EVs in HP on Gyarados seem really useful considering I wouldn't need the extra speed anyway. Fantastic idea. It could probably help out if Jellicent or Gastrodon are running Sp. Atk EVs as well. You are just chalk full of good suggestions.

Thanks Jimbon <3

@Pokemasta77 I clearly explained in my Thundurus section this topic.

Also, if you were wondering, my team is considered Dream World because of Thundurus. Although not a "Dream World" Pokemon, he's still banned in standard and legal here.

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Similarly, it originally had Zapdos and Genesect, which made it Dream World to begin with. The addition of Thundurus after its ban in Standard OU again pushed me into Dream World. :] I can understand your position though. It doesn't really look like DW from the start. Also why am I typing in blue

@erisia Thanks, good catch. I ended up just using the EVs I found on the Smogon page. I'll test it out and see if it makes any difference to me at all. I'm sure it will based on what you said.

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Heh, in that case I'll have to see about getting the Smogon page changed. :p I don't suspect it'll make a lot of difference, it'll just decrease the likelihood of certain OHKOs or 2HKOs from occuring instead of preventing them, but there's literally no reason not to do it. It also makes Toxicroak (marginally) less susceptible to Leech Seed and Pain Split.

I wouldn't worry about changing your team to beat stall as this is a DW team and stall is not exactly thriving. I know some people might not agree with this, but in a ladder system you only need to be able to beat the majority of teams, so losing a game every what 10-20? times(have not played much as finals are crazy right now) won't really matter that much in the long run

I will say right now that this team Is a monster when it gets going with either of the 3 sweepers. I battled someone today who was using this team and the only reason I didn't lose was because of Hax. This team is really just amazing. 5/5 Gimmick :]

@Masttershake Of course not every team is going to be able to beat every playstyle in the game, but I've seen some that come pretty darn close. I've always had a problem with stall, usually getting frustrated or impatient making risky and stupid plays. I wanted ways to help out against such stallers so I found a way in substitutes. I see what you mean about winning the majority of games, but it's always nice to have an answer to everything lol :[

@ThunderBlunder: Thankssss :]]]]]]] <3 It's nice to know people are trying out the team, too!

hey gimmick very very nice team u have there! i love underated threats and teams based around certain pokemon. anyway on to the rate i have never played dream world but i can suggest two rapid spinners for your team. first one is starmie if you want an offensive rapidspinner can abuse hydro pumps insane power and have the legendary bolt beam coverage with these three moves only lanturn resists. but if you want a more defensive one that can take ferros place i can reccomend tentacruel can rapid spin and set up t-spikes. although if you use starmie or tantacruel in ferrothrons place you are weaker to opposing rain teams congratulations on the peak!

@Superpowerdude Thanks for the rate! About the suggestions though, I covered both Starmie and Tentacruel in my conclusion:

Tentacruel was way too slow for this team and Starmie had to spin on predicted switches, which again, slows the momentum down I could get from double switching. If someone could find a good replacement, I would greatly appreciate it

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Plus, Ferrothorn and Tentacruel play EXTREMELY different roles. Ferrothorn is my only electric resist and I have 2 weak on my team. Adding Tentacruel would remove my only resist and add a third weakness. Similarly, without Ferrothorn, I don't have access to Stealth Rock or Spikes, leaving me only with TSpikes from Tentacruel. Also, Ferrothorn has a huge third role in spreading paralysis, which Tentacruel cannot do. Removing Ferrothorn would severely harm the synergy of the team. However, pokes like Jirachi and Thundurus can be replaced. I just can't find with what, though. That's where I need the help. I've tried every rapid spinner in the game (defensive sets) and none seem to be working. I even tried Smeargle. Yes. Lmfao. I just need to find the right set :[[[